1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to order support systems, device monitoring methods, and program products, and more particularly to an order support system, a device monitoring method, and a program product for supporting the operation of ordering consumable elements of devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
In company offices, plural devices such as printers, copiers, fax machines, or multifunction peripherals realizing functions of such devices in a single housing are interconnected via a communication network.
Each of these devices includes consumable elements that are consumed by using the device. The function of the device can be maintained by appropriately replacing such a consumable element. For example, in the case of a printer, toner, a fixing unit, a toner eject bottle, a photoconductor, and a developer correspond to consumable elements, which are generally referred to as supplies.
It is difficult to determine the extent to which a supply is consumed from the outside of a device. Conventionally, a user acknowledges that there is no toner remaining by, for example, receiving an error message after sending an instruction to perform a printing operation. The user replaces a toner cartridge upon receiving the error message.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-345560
However, in order to replace a supply, it is necessary to purchase the supply. Generally, supplies are purchased at a mass merchandise outlet or via mail-order; however, there are many devices in an office, and the supplies to be purchased have different model numbers according to the respective devices. Hence, a user needs to confirm the correct model number for each supply to be purchased according to the device, before purchasing the supplies or carrying out ordering procedures. Thus, extremely time-consuming efforts are required of the user.